The Beast is in the Flames
by Fantom Of The Fiction
Summary: Hearts slowly rise to the surface. Human hearts. Then there are heads. Faces of those he knows. Abigail's head is bobbing up and down, her hair stuck to her face, which is caked with drying and dried blood. Her eyes have been gouged out and replaced with a set of antlers. Her mouth opens and she lets out a bone-chilling scream. Submission for idontfindyouthatinteresting's contest.


There is fog. Thick, dank fog. There is nothing else. Nothing else except darkness. But if there is only darkness, how can the fog be seen? Will holds up the lantern he is holding in his hand, the candle inside flickering, nearly burned out. He can see better now.

He walks forward. He is not afraid, although he feels he should be. He does not dwell on it. He is being pulled forward, attracted to some unknown thing in the distance. Perhaps it is the unknown itself that he is attracted to. Curiosity drives him on.

The fog lifts somewhat, and he sees that he is in a forest. Trees of all shapes and sizes surround him, but there is something strange about them. They are wrong. He steps to the closest one and runs his fingers over the bark. It is hot to the touch and leaves traces of black soot on his finger tips. These trees are dead. Burned. He now understands that it wasn't fog that he was in, but smoke.

He is just outside the forest then, the sun shining through the trees, which are full of foliage and life. Birds are singing, animals are living, cicadas are chirping.

Jack Crawford stands before him. "Follow me." He says. "It's okay if you don't." He says this, yet he grasps Will's wrist firmly and pulls him into the forest. Will is unable to protest. He is curious. He wants to follow Jack.

They reach a clearing where Hannibal Lecter stands at the center. He is wearing a deep red suit and his tie seems to be made of hundreds of raven feathers.

"Don't get to close." Jack says. "I won't let you get too close." Again, he says this, yet he puts his hands on Will's back and pushes him towards Hannibal. Will stumbles and Hannibal reaches out to prevent him from falling.

Hannibal and Will are walking through the forest. They are walking further in, where Will can see darkness looming overhead. As he is looking up to the eerie sky, the tree branches morph into antlers. Ravens fly off of the antler branches, their shrill calls echoing. They soar towards Will, and Hannibal is nowhere to be seen. He runs, stumbles, and falls. Will holds up an arm to protect himself from the ravens' attack, bracing himself.

The ravens fly through him. They impale him and burst through his chest and out his back. He cries out in pain. They fly around him in a tornado. He squeezes his eyes shut to block out the pain and their screeching calls. When he opens them, he sees Elise Nichols on the stag head.

The stag stands, Elise still dead on its antlers. The stag slowly comes over to where Will stands, unable to move. It bows its head and Elise is facing him, standing before him. Elise has Garret Jacob Hobbs' face. Will silently screams and shoots at Hobbs with a gun he didn't know he had. The stag charges at Will, threatening to impale him as well. Will turns and runs.

He doesn't know where he is running to. His running seems slow. The stag is gaining on him. Will turns right and continues running. He runs for what seems like an eternity. The only thing he can hear is Hobbs saying "See?"

He sees a cabin up ahead. He runs to it, opens the door, and locks it shut. He is safe.

For now.

Will hears barking and whining. It sounds like a dog. He opens all of the doors, but cannot locate the source of the barking. Doors, doors, doors. So many doors. There is an endless hallway of doors. They are open, but close the moment he reaches them. He cannot open them. They are locked. Inside the locked rooms, he hears the barking and whining. Then, the sound of car breaks on asphalt, a loud bang, and a yelp. Will runs to the next room and he is outside again. Hannibal is there.

Will asks Hannibal if he heard the same thing. Hannibal says no.

Will sees a clock now. The clock is deformed. Hannibal says the clock is not deformed. Will believes him.

The numbers on the clock are melting. The black liquid that was the numbers slowly drips down off of the clock. Will looks down at the puddle of bubbling, black goo. Hearts slowly rise to the surface. Human hearts. Then there are heads. Faces of those he knows. Abigail's head is bobbing up and down, her hair stuck to her face, which is caked with drying and dried blood. Her eyes have been gouged out and replaced with a set of antlers. Her mouth opens and she lets out a bone-chilling scream.

Her scream does not stop. It drives Will mad.

Will turns to Hannibal. Hannibal says he does not hear it because his hands are covering his ears. Hannibal says that he doesn't know what Will is talking about.

Will tries to convince Hannibal that the screaming is real. Hannibal refuses. How can Hannibal hear Will and not the screams of his surrogate daughter?

Will falls to the ground, curling in on himself. He pleads for the screaming to stop. He covers his head with his arms.

He feels himself being lifted up. He does not know by whom. He does not check.

He opens his eyes. The screaming persists. He is in the forest. Jack Crawford stands in front of him.

Will tells him about the screaming. Jack does not listen. Instead, he looks up.

Will looks up, too. Above him, the branches are still antlers. But there is something new.

Bodies are hanging on the branches. They are dripping blood. Blood rains upon Will, but Jack is left clean.

Jack is shouting at him. He is saying, "_What kind of crazy are you_?"

Will does not understand. Hannibal said he was sane. He doesn't understand why Jack thinks he's crazy. Will has done nothing.

Jack is gone. He is replaced with Hannibal.

"_WHAT_"

Hannibal is gone. He is replaced by a lanky black creature with antlers.

"_KIND OF_"

The creature is gone. It is replaced by Hannibal.

"_CRAZY_"

Hannibal is gone. He is replaced by the creature.

The creature is speaking to him. He has Hannibal's voice. But it's not Hannibal's voice. It's the sound of a thousand screams of the damned.

Will knows.

Ravens explode from behind the creature. They fly around the two.

The ravens are gone. They are replaced by flames.

Will runs through the flames. The flames to not hurt him. He knows what is behind the flames.

He sees the creature.

It tells him that he started the fire. Will looks at his hands. They are burnt. He does not remember starting the fire.

Will calls the creature by Hannibal's name. The creature dons Hannibal's deep red suit.

Jack Crawford stands in the center of the flames.

Will tries to tell Jack that Hannibal is the one that is doing this. Will has done nothing. Everything is Hannibal.

But he cannot. The creature is behind him, covering his eyes and mouth with his hands.

Will fights back.

He struggles against the creature's grip. He bites, claws, scratches at its hands. He shouts that he is innocent.

He pulls at Hannibal's hands. He is growing stronger. He can see out of one eye now. He is winning.

Hannibal's face begins to break. Shards of ceramic flesh break off from his face. They are black underneath.

His mask is breaking.

It is slipping.

Will knows.

And there will be a reckoning.

_A/N: Reviews are always appreciated._


End file.
